A Ugandan business turns banana fiber into sustainable handicrafts

By PATRICK ONEN and RODNEY MUHUMUZA
Associated Press

MUKONO, Uganda (AP) — A decapitated banana plant is almost useless, an inconvenience to the farmer who must uproot it and lay its dismembered parts as mulch. Too many of them in a banana plantation means an extra cost of hiring manual labor. But can these discarded stems be somehow returned to life? Yes, according to a Ugandan company that is buying banana stems in a business that turns fiber into attractive handicrafts. The idea is innovative as well as sustainable in this East African country that’s literally a banana republic. Uganda has the highest banana consumption rate in the world and is Africa’s top producer of the crop.